Singer Jay Black totally bankrupt after gambling
deb...@comcast.net
'60s pop star Jay Black may be forced to sell name to pay off his debts
BY ROBERT E. KESSLER
Newsday Staff Writer
April 27, 2006
Cara mia. Oh, my dear, indeed.
A federal bankruptcy trustee argued yesterday that he was entitled to
auction off the rights to the name Jay and the Americans to pay off the
debts of Jay Black, the lead singer of Jay and the Americans.
The trustee, A. Scott Mandelup, also said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Central Islip that he should be given the right to bar Black from using
the name Jay Black or Jay Black and the Americans professionally, so as
not to create competition with the names that were sold.
Mandelup said the only significant assets that Black - who recorded
such golden-oldies as "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment" - had were the
rights to names, and it was only fair to his creditors that they be
sold to repay his debts.
Black, who has made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year since 2002,
owes $500,000 in back taxes to the IRS and New York State, dating to
1993, and several thousand dollars to credit-card companies, Mandelup
said.
Mandelup, of the law firm of Pryor and Mandelup in Westbury, said that
he already had an offer of $100,000 for the names of Black's groups
("The Americans" is also part of the auction) in what is believed to be
the first case in which a noted entertainer could be forced to give up
the name of his group and be barred from using his professional name.
Black, a Long Island native, was not in the courtroom for the hearing.
In a telephone interview later, he said that the action by the trustee
was unfair.
"The whole idea of bankruptcy is to get to put one's life together ...
and this would put me in a worse spot," said Black, 67, whose given
name is David Blatt. He said his career and image are based on "Jay
Black," which he has used for most of the past 40 years.
Black said he had gotten into financial trouble because of a gambling
habit. "I gambled it away" in casinos and buying lottery tickets, he
said. "It is my only vice. I never took any drugs."
In any event, Black said, the whole idea was absurd because people want
to hear Jay Black and the Americans, not some imitation. "It would be
like me buying the name of Elvis Presley, not that I'm like him," Black
said.
In court, one of Black's attorneys, Mark Friedman, argued that, if the
sales proceeded, the court would create a situation in which "the
people who are going to be defrauded" are fans who think they are going
to hear Black and his group. "What Jay Black does ... can't be
duplicated," Friedman said.
Trustee Mandelup said that Black, or Blatt, was not the original "Jay"
- that a singer named Jay Traynor had preceded him as the lead singer
of the group. Mandelup said he was not suggesting that Black could not
perform as David Blatt.
"If he's such a good performer, and nobody is taking that away from
him, he will be able to make a living," Mandelup said.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Melanie Cyganowski said she would issue a ruling
in several weeks.
Dustbunny
<deb...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1146163516.6...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
> No magic moment
> '60s pop star Jay Black may be forced to sell name to pay off his debts
>
>
>
>
> BY ROBERT E. KESSLER
> Newsday Staff Writer
>
> April 27, 2006
>
>
> Cara mia. Oh, my dear, indeed.
>
> A federal bankruptcy trustee argued yesterday that he was entitled to
> auction off the rights to the name Jay and the Americans to pay off the
> debts of Jay Black, the lead singer of Jay and the Americans.
>
> The trustee, A. Scott Mandelup, also said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
> Central Islip that he should be given the right to bar Black from using
> the name Jay Black or Jay Black and the Americans professionally, so as
> not to create competition with the names that were sold.
>
> Mandelup said the only significant assets that Black - who recorded
> such golden-oldies as "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment" - had were the
> rights to names, and it was only fair to his creditors that they be
> sold to repay his debts.
That's too bad, but now I have both "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment" stuck
in my brain. Why can I remember the lyrics to both of these obscure old
songs, but forget what I had for dinner last night??
Evelyn
thesonoftruth
Dustbunny wrote:
> <deb...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:1146163516.6...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
> > No magic moment
> > '60s pop star Jay Black may be forced to sell name to pay off his debts
> >
> >
> >
>
> That's too bad, but now I have both "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment" stuck
> in my brain. Why can I remember the lyrics to both of these obscure old
> songs, but forget what I had for dinner last night??
>
> Evelyn
Obscure ?????
cocoapuffs
"Dustbunny" <who...@earthlinc.net> wrote in message
news:UT84g.7088$BS2....@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
"forever til the e-end o-of ti-i-ime, whoa-ohohoh..."
going to download them into the ipod right now!
CliffB
useless trivia contribution.
Doctor Wu
news:UT84g.7088$BS2....@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:
>> Mandelup said the only significant assets that Black - who recorded
>> such golden-oldies as "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment" - had were
>> the rights to names, and it was only fair to his creditors that they
>> be sold to repay his debts.
>
> That's too bad, but now I have both "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment"
> stuck in my brain. Why can I remember the lyrics to both of these
> obscure old songs, but forget what I had for dinner last night??
>
> Evelyn
>
>
Trivia: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan (from whence I got
the name "Doctor Wu" the title of one of their songs) sang backup for
Jay and the Americans. Didn't they also sing "Come a Little Bit Closer"?
CliffB
Doctor Wu wrote:
> "Dustbunny" <who...@earthlinc.net> wrote in
> news:UT84g.7088$BS2....@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:
>
> >> Mandelup said the only significant assets that Black - who recorded
> >> such golden-oldies as "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment" - had were
> >> the rights to names, and it was only fair to his creditors that they
> >> be sold to repay his debts.
> >
> > That's too bad, but now I have both "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment"
> > stuck in my brain. Why can I remember the lyrics to both of these
> > obscure old songs, but forget what I had for dinner last night??
> >
> > Evelyn
> >
> >
>
> Trivia: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan (from whence I got
> the name "Doctor Wu" the title of one of their songs)
<Throw out your Gold Teeth
And see how they roll.......>
Rick in Oz
"Dustbunny" <who...@earthlinc.net> wrote in message
> That's too bad, but now I have both "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment"
stuck
> in my brain. Why can I remember the lyrics to both of these obscure old
> songs, but forget what I had for dinner last night??
>
> Evelyn
'old' but still 'gold' thats why, Evelyn ! ......just got my Jay & The
Americans CD out for a listen :)
Dustbunny
> the name "Doctor Wu" the title of one of their songs) sang backup for
> Jay and the Americans. Didn't they also sing "Come a Little Bit Closer"?
Yes. Now I have that stuck in my brain too. Thankyouverymuch.
Evelyn
eggs
Jeeze, I just read this headline as "Jack Black", and I thought ALREADY?!
eggs.
maryanne kehoe
advisors back in those days.
Sad. Very much so. This could have been prevented.
Michael Alden
now, in spite of his earning good money every year. Read the article
moron.